Gearing



May 1, 1923.

C. L. HEISLER GEARING 1921' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor:

Char1es L.Heis1e -r, b WW, 4 49M l His Atkorney.

Filed Feb. 10

May 1, 1923. 1,453,709

C. L. HEISLER GEARING Filed Feb. 10, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 His Attdrnev,

Patented May 1, 1923.

' UNiT-E-D STATES PATENT creme CHARLES L. HEISLER, OF SOHENECTADY, NEWYORK, ASSIGNOR TO ELEC} TRIC COMPANY, CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

GEARING.

'- Application filed l ebruary 10, 1921. Serial No. 443,920.

To all whom it may concern: I

'Be it known that I, CHARLES L. Hnrsnnn, a citizen of the United States,residing at- Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady, State of NewYork, have invented'certain new and useful Improvements in Geariug,ofwhich the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to gearing and is applicable to eitherspeed reduction or multiplicationgearing. The more usual application,however, is for speed reduction and the invention isaccordinglyparticularly described as a reduction gearing. It will be understood,however, that. it is not necessarily limited thereto.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved structure andarrangement in a gearing, particularly the casing thereof, and foraconsideration of what I believe to be novel and my invention,attentionis directed to the accompanying description and the claimsappended thereto. In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly insection, of a gearingembodying my invention, the section being taken online y-y Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken on line U-6E; Fig. 1and Figs. 3, 1, 5, 6 and 7 are perspective views illustrating the casingstructure and the parts which go to make up the same. 7 I

In the present instance my invention is illustrated in connection with areduction gearing comprising a driven gear wheel 10 mounted on a shaft11 and driven by two sets of gears located on opposite sides of gearwheel 10. Each gear set comprises a high speed driving pinion 12 carriedby a shaft 13 and meshing with a gear wheel 14.

on shaft 15, which shaft carries also a low speed pinion 16 meshing withtwo gear wheels 18 loosely mounted to turn on-fixed shafts 19 and inturn meshing with .low speed gear wheel 10. The gearing illustrated isof the double helical type, the two halves of pinion 12 and gear wheel14 being spaced apart and pinion 16 and gear wheels 18 beinglocatedbetween them. This gives a compact symmetrical arrangement. Gear wheels18 serve as intermediatesto transmit the load in parallel from pinion 18to driven gear'wheel 10,the load being equally divided between them. H 9

Referring now tothe casing, it comprises a rectangular base 20 inthe'form of a box having transversely ext-ending webs 21 to give 1tstrength and rigidity. The top and bottom walls are indicated byreference numerals 22' and 23, the end walls by 'numeral 24, and theside walls by numeral 25.

The lower surface-ofthe bottom wall is provided with pads 26 which arefinished and which serve to support -the casing on a foundation, and atthe two end's of the base are bolting flanges 27 provided with boltholes 28. Projecting upwardly from base 20 are two uprights 29 locatedone on each side of the base midway between its ends. Uprights 29 are ofbox structure also, and are preferably formed integral with the base.They are provided with recesses 30 extending'downwar-d from their tops.The bottoms of the recess, as indicated at 31, arecurved to receivebearing linings. The end faces of uprights 29 are provided'with finishedsurfaces 32, the uprightsbeing preferably provided with flanges 33 inorder to increase the width of such faces, and aroundthe margins of theends of base 20 are pads 34- having.

finished surfacesof the same width as surfaces 32. Pads 34: preferablyproject beyond the outer edges of base 20 to provide flanges whichcontain bolt holes 35.

MCurved surfaces 31 of the uprights are adapted to support the shaft ofthe driven, gear wheel, in the present instance shaft 11 which carriesgearwheel 10, and when the shaft is in place, a cap 36 havingprojections 37 as shown in Fig. 41, is put into place, the

projections fitting'into recesses 30. Cap 36 and projections 37 are ofrectangular box structure and the lower ends of projections 37 arecurved as indicated at 38 toreceive the upper halves'ofthe bearinglinings. On each side of uprights 29 there, is a space, as best shownatthe right hand side of Fig. 3, for theremaining gear wheels of the,gearing'and I support the shafts for such gear wheels by means of abuilt up 1 structure made from box-like members of rectangular section.The shape and size .of

these members 'will vary according to the specific nature ofthegearing,the numberof' shafts to be supported, and the distance betweensha'f-tcenters. In the gearing illusjtrated, there are 'four shafts tobe supported and I accordingly provide two'lower mein bers 40 and 41,two upper; members 42 and V 4:3,. and an intermediate member 4A. Memhere40,41,42 and 43 are substantially alike in structure, the generalstructure of each being illustrated in Fig. 5. Each comprises arectangular end piece 45 having two side pieces 46 and 47 formedintegral with it. The end and side pieces are of box-like structure andrectangular in section, and the side pieces are provided with curvedtrans verse recesses 48 to form supports for the shafts. They are alsoprovided with suitable bolt holes 49. Intermediate member 44 is shown inperspective in Fig. 6 and comprises an end piece 50 and two side pieces51 all of rectangular, box-like structure. It is provided with shaftopenings 52 and 53 in which are bearing linings 54.

In assembling the gearing, lower members 40 and 41 are put into place asshown at the left hand side of Fig. 3, lower shaft 19 with gear wheel 18thereon being clamped in recesses 48. The intermediate member 44 is thenput into place, shaft 13 with pinion 12 thereon, and shaft 15 withpinion 16 and gear wheel 14 thereon, being mounted in bearings 52 and 53respectively. In the case of shaft 13, it will be noted from Fig. thatopening 52 is of greater diameter than pinion 12, so shaft 13 can beslipped into place axially, the bearing linings, which may be made inhalves, being put into place afterwards. In the case of shaft 15, theside pieces 51 of member 44 may be split on the vertical plane throughthe center of openings 53 as indicated at 55 to permit of assembling theshaft in the bearings, suitable bolts passing through openings 56 beingprovided to hold the parts together so member is in substance a unitarystructure. Upper members 42 and 43 are then put into place, upper shaft19 with gear wheel 18 thereon being clamped in recesses 48. The entirebuilt-up structure is then bolted to gether to form a rigid unit. Thegeneral arrangement of bolts is shown in the drawing but it will beunderstood that such bolts may be used as found desirable to fit theneeds of any particular case.

In order to get shafts 15 into correct vertical alignment with shafts 19it is desirable to be able to slightly shift or adjust intermediatemember 44 relatively to members 40, 41 and 42, 43. For this purpose Iprovide faces 32 with transverse grooves 57 in line with intermediatemember 44, and in member 44 I provide openings 58 in which are bushings59 of a length slightly greater than the thickness of member 44 so theirtwo ends project very slightly beyond the surface of member 44. Theprojection of the ends of bushings 59 beyond the surface of member 44may be of the order of .0015 inch for example so when the variousmembers are mounted inplace' as shown in F ig, 3, intermediate mem er 44will be s aced slightly from the, adjacent members. This will permit itto be moved without too much friction, and when in correct position, thetightening of the bolts will hold it.

On top of the gear casing are cover plates (30 suitably bolted intoplace. They are referably provided with strengthening ri s 61' whichserve to make the covers more rigid and to brace the casing as a whole.

In the specific arrangement of gearing illustrated, the side pieces ofmembers 41, 44 and 42 are of less width than the side pieces of members40 and 43 to provide space for the accommodation of gear wheels 14, andthe end piece 50 of member 44 is cut back as indicated at 62 in Fig. 6to permit gear wheels 14 to mesh with pinions 12. This arrangementserves to give a smooth exterior to the gear casing and a compactarrangement of maximum strength.

IVhen the gearing is assembled and bolted together a very strong rigidcasing structure or supporting structure results which is able tomaintain the gear wheels in correct alignment at all times and undersevere usage. All the casing members are formed of rectangular box-likeparts which give the maXimum rigidity for a given weight and when thecasing is fastened to a foundation, sh1ftmg movement of the foundationWlll not throw the gear wheels out of alignment.

This is a matter of particular moment when the gearing is used inconnection with ship propulsion since the gear casing may be subjectedto considerable strains due to weaving of the ships hull.

In connection with gear wheels 18, these wheels run loosely on shafts 19and act as idlers to transmit the load from pinion 16 to driven gearwheel 10. Shafts 19, therefore, require no bearings in the gear casingas they are fixed against rotation. Since they re uire no bearings, theycan be very accurate y located so as to bring gear wheels 18 intocorrect positions. Also by eliminating two bearings I am enabled toreduce the cost of the gearings.

A feature of great utility in my invention is that the same general gearcasing parts or members are adapted for use in building up gearings ofvarious types and for various speed reductions. As is obvious the basemember and uprights may support a driven gear wheel of desired size andon either one or both sides of it may be built up a driving geararrangement using such sized members for supporting the shafts asrequired and with their shaft openings properly spaced and located. Themachine work required is all of a simple nature capable of beingperformed with great accuracy. 7 The surfaces of the various parts canbe finished and fitted to'eac'h other to give exact location of the gearwheel centers so when assembled the gear wheels will mesh correctly. Inthis connection it is to be noted" that ifyafter til the gearing isassembled, the wheels do not mesh correctly or any one slightly off-ceneters various surfaces can be easily shaped to bring the wheels to exactmeshing position.

The arrangement shown in the drawing is for a double drive and in use aprime mover, such as an elastic fluid turbine may be connected to eachof the driving shafts l3. Turbine shafts are indicated at 64: and 65.

In accordance with-the provisions of the patent statutes, I havedescribed the principle of operation of my invention, together with theapparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof,but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is onlyillustrative and that the invention may be carried out by other means.

lVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is

1. In a gearing, the combination of a base, uprights carried by thebase-and spaced from one end of it, a gear wheel carried by saiduprights, a plurality of supporting and spacing members mounted on theend of said base and fastened to it and said uprights, said membersbeing horizontally divided and built up one above another to form aunitary construction, and a gear wheel arrangement carried by saidmembers and cooperating with said gear wheel.

2. In a gearing, the combination of a base, uprights carried by the baseand spaced from one end of it, a gear; wheel carried by said uprights, aplurality of boxlike supporting members rectangular in section mountedon said base and fastened to it and saiduprights, said members beinghorizontally divided and built up one above another to form a unitaryconstruction, and gearing carried by said members and meshing with saidgear wheel.

3. In a gearing, a base of box structure, uprights of box structureon'opposite sides of the base and spaced from one end, and members ofboxstructure horizontally divided and mounted one above another on suchend, said members forming a unitary construction in conjunction withsaid uprights to support, space and locate a gearing.

4. In a gearing, a base of box structure, uprights of box structure-onopposite sides of the base and spaced from one end, upper, low andintermediate members of box structure mounted on such end andfixed tothe base and uprights, certain of said members being adjustable in aplane parallel to the base, and gearing carried by said uprights of boxstructure, uprights of box structure 7 on opposite sides of the basemidway between its ends, a shaft carried by said uprights, a gear wheelon said shaft, horizontally divided supporting members of box likestructure mounted one aboveanother on the ends of the base and fastenedto the base and said uprights, and gearing carried by said supportingmembers and cooperating with said gear wheel.

7. In a gearing, the combination of a base of box structure, uprights ofbox structure on opposite sides of the base midway between its ends,lower, upper and intermediate members of box structure mounted on saidbase ends and fastened thereto and to the uprights, a gear wheel carriedby said uprights, gearwheels-carried by said upper and lower memberswhich mesh with said first named gear'wheel, and a pinion carried bysaid intermediate member and meshing with said second named gear wheels.

8. A gear casing built up fromv a plurality of interchangeable gear andpinion supporting members of box structure mounted one above another toform a unitary construction and a common base upon which saidcombination is supported.

9. A gear casing comprising a base and a plurality of supporting membersthereon of box structure, said members being horizontally divided andbuilt up one above another to form a unitary construction. 10. A gearcasing comprising a base of box structure, uprights of box structure onthe base, and horizontally divided supporting members of box structuremounted one above another and fastened to the base and uprights.

In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 9th day ofFebruary, 1921;

CHARLES L. HEISLER.

